Nazism in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union

“We are talking about a struggle for destruction... This war will be very different from the war in the West. In the East, cruelty itself is a blessing for the future.” These words were spoken by Adolf Hitler three months before the attack on the Soviet Union. Many aspects of the Nazi extermination policy in the occupied territories of the USSR are still the subject of scientific debate. Were the crimes committed in the East the result of a consistently implemented plan? What motivated the Nazis - racial prejudice or seemingly rational economic and military considerations? What categories of the population of the USSR became the target of the Nazis’ criminal actions and why? Answers to these and other questions are given by historians from Russia, Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Latvia and Belarus.